Death in the Sound (The Versipellis Mystery Series Book Two) by Rhen Garland

"Ladies and gentlemen, the Magnificent Bowyers are, I'm afraid, quite counterfeit, they are in fact Detective Chief Inspector Elliott Caine, and Detective Sergeant Abernathy Thorne, the third guest is Mlle Giselle Du'Lac, they are investigators who work on behalf of the Empire, and they have absolute jurisdiction to investigate this brutal slaying."

Death in the Sound - book 2 in The Versipellis Mystery Series by Rhen Garland - is a heady blend of historical and supernatural. It's a Victorian murder mystery, with the strands of paranormal.

I enjoyed the first book in the series, called A Portrait of Death (<--- a full review appeared on this blog last year), and was looking forward to the next instalment, especially that the first book has finished on a cliff-hanger.

In these days of doom and gloom it makes a great, entertaining read and will provide you with a thrilling escapism.

I do think it would help, if you start with the first book, as it introduces the main characters and their supernatural abilities.

The villain of the series named Phoenixus has an ability to absorb the memories, thoughts and emotions of their victims, as well as acquire their appearance. This entity is dangerous and horrifying.
"The gentle smile widened and twisted slightly as the devious mind of Phoenixus sifted through their victim's memories, discarding happy thoughts and memories for the hidden depths of greed, social climbing, and sexual intrigue their victim had taken great care to hide but that were utterly exposed by their murderer's invasive perusal of their most personal inner thoughts.
Yes, this body had definite.. possibilities."

We meet Detective Chief Inspector Elliott Caine and Detective Sergeant Abernathy Thorne in A Portrait of Death, where they investigate a series of gruesome murders and hunt for their devious enemy.
Death in the Sound will bring them all together again in the most unusual of locations, aboard a luxurious paddle steamer Taniwha, where they are invited by millionaire philanthropist Octavius Damant.
Damant organises a big party for his daughter Merry's twenty first birthday. High society guests and entertainers are invited aboard Taniwha, moored in the ink-dark waters of Milford Sound.
Among them, there's Sir Wesley Eade, a society lawyer, and his mistress Lady Leonora, an extravagant dancer Dona Carla Riva, Damant's viper of a sister-in-law Carolyn Nolloth and her lover.

Elliott, his wife Giselle and Abernathy with his faithful but utterly spoilt dog Veronique travel to New Zealand to help Octavius Damant to find a writer of anonymous poisonous letters, threatening the life of his only daughter. The letters accuse him of murdering his own wife and her lover.

The trio of detectives travel under disguise, but have to reveal who they are, when the first murder is committed on board of Taniwha.

All the guests are trapped aboard the Taniwha with the killer who has damaged the engines and the radio transmitter, so that the ship is being pulled by the tides to sea, and they have no means to call for assistance.

As the body count rises, Elliott, Giselle and Abernathy have to work against the clock to piece together a devilish puzzle and find the killer on board.

Death in the Sound is a fast-paced mystery, which will appeal to anyone who enjoys Victorian mysteries with a twist. Bring on the next book in the series!


Many thanks to Rhen Garland and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book.

Purchase Links:

Kindle https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B082Q39R3H

Paperback https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/1674868367

Amazon.com - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B082Q39R3H


Author Bio:

Rhen Garland lives in Somerset, England, with her fold-singing, book-illustrating husband, approximately 4000 books, an equal number of ancient movies, and a large collection of passive-aggressive Tomtes.

She enjoys the countryside, peace, and Prosecco and the works of Ngaio Marsh, Gladys Mitchell, John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson, Agatha Christie, Simon R Green, and Terry Pratchett.

"I watch far too many old school murder mystery films, TV series, and 1980s action movies for it to be considered healthy."

"Death in the Sound" is a murder mystery thriller with paranormal touches set in late Victorian England and is the second book in the Versipellis Mysteries Series, book one "A Portrait of Death" was released in 2018.

Social Media Links:
Facebook: htttps://www.facebook.com/RhenGarlandMysteries
Instagram: @rhen_garland
Twitter: @RhenWitch
https://rhengarlandkdp.wixsite.com/rhengarland
https://www.bookbub.com/authors/rhen-garland
https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/18718625.Rhen_Garland

This post is part of the blog tour, you can check out the other reviews:

A Portrait of Death (The Versipellis Mystery series: Book One) by Rhen Garland #BlogTour

"As she stood in the hallway by the sitting room door, she became aware that the noise had changed slightly; before it had sounded muffled but standing here in the hall she could now hear it clearly. It sounded like the high keening of a child crying..."

The first pages of A Portrait of Death by Rhen Garland grab you immediately and draw you into an unspeakable brutal murder scene, taking place in a mansion in New York in 1889. The gore details and the eerie unsettling atmosphere are positively Gothic.

A portrait of death is the 1st book in the Versipellis Mystery series, which could be described as a Victorian murder mystery with the elements of paranormal/supernatural. The endorsement on the back cover presents it as "Jack the Ripper meets Highlander!"

After the barbaric murder in the opening chapter, we meet a mysterious dark demonic figure, with powers of transformation into their victim's persona.

Fast forward another 8 years, and we find ourselves at Marmis Hall, situated in a quiet English village Marmis Parva. Lord and Lady Marmis treat a selection of friends to a weekend house party.

"The weekend was to be a front as they say, a perfectly harmless party involving bridge, opera and feasting that would operate as a cover for the real purpose of the weekend, that of a meeting between the government and certain others to discuss the possibility of another war in South Africa. The guests were carefully chosen to create a safe environment in which the parliamentarians could mingle in safety without hindrance to their true purpose".

On the very first evening of the weekend party, two men are butchered by a bloodthirsty maniac. And a young man, the younger brother of the master of the house, comes back from the dead. He was presumed dead for the last two years. He spent two years of imprisonment in South Africa, and arrives home under the cover of the night, bringing with him proof of treason and names of three traitors.

Detective Chief Inspector Elliott Caine and his sidekick Detective Sergeant Abernathy Thorne are formally requested by a highly placed government official to go to Marmis Hall to investigate the murders. Their long-awaited holiday would have to wait.

Elliott V Caine was young for CID officer of his position. "Those who spoke in his defence argued that his abilities and successes on the job were justification enough to push his repeated and swift promotions, while those who disapproved listed his maverick behaviour, his refusal to follow the necessary protocol... and his unnerving habit of breaking even the most hardened criminal down to dust... in some cases literally".

Caine and Thorne arrive to Marmis Hall, but the savage murders continue. It seems the killer is taunting them.
The list of the traitors' names acquires a new addition - that of Versipellis - scribbled in a different ink. Caine is well aware of the identity of Versipellis.
"Versipellis, or rather a codename seems to have been around in various forms for well over three hundred years, he is an independent operative, an information gatherer who has worked for the British government and occasionally the Americans".

Time is ticking, Caine and Thorne have to catch the sadistic killer and find the traitor amongst them. The murders at Marmis Hall are connected to the murder committed a decade earlier in New York.
Caine's past comes to haunt him. Will he be able to stay clear-headed and not let his obsessions cloud his investigation?

When you're reading this book, you might want to make sure all the doors are locked. The murder scenes are not for faint-hearted. It is a gripping, atmospheric murder mystery, full of bold twists and turns which will keep you guessing 'til the final pages.

While the murder mystery is satisfactorily solved, the supernatural aspect hasn't been explained much. I presume we will find out more in the next books in the series.

A Portrait of Death is a sharp-edged, menacing gothic tale, a well-plotted page-turner.

This post is part of the blog tour, you can follow it on the following blog stops:

Author Bio:
Rhen Garland lives in Somerset, England, with her folk-singing, book-illustrating husband, approximately 4000 books, and equal number of ancient movies, and a large flock of stuffed sheep.
She enjoys the countryside, peace, and Prosecco and the works of Ngaio Marsh, Glady Mitchell, John Dickson Carr/Carter Dickson, Agatha Christie and Terry Pratchett.
"I watch far too many old school murder mystery films, TV series, and 1980s action movies for it to be considered healthy."

Social Media Links:
https://www.facebook.com/RhenGarlandMysteries
https://www.instagram.com/rhen_garland
You can follow Rhen Garland on Twitter as @RhenWitch

Many thanks to Rhen Garland and Rachel's Random Resources for my copy of the book!

What Empty Things Are These by J.L.Crozier

"Wandering from room to room, I felt myself a child again, examining the spaces about me and imagining their history, though there was no history here save that of a loveless marriage".

Adelaide Hadley is engrossed in her book, when her husband arrives home unexpectedly and catches her unawares. In a fit of temper - he disapproves of her choice of a book, it being Mr Collins's The Woman in White - and raises his cane to hit her, when he suffers a stroke and falls into a coma.
"There lay he who raised his voice at the notion of women reading sensation, at this literature's stirring of imagination among the weak, at the distraction from duty, at the wanton tempted away from their virtues..."

Thus begins a dark, complex novel by J.L.Crozier - What Empty Things Are These.

The story is set in the 1860s Britain, when women and children were considered as mere possessions of the man of the house. Rigid Victorian laws, rules and customs enforced a male-centred dominance.
The man "disciplining" his wife was a totally common phenomenon in the Victorian era.

Adelaide has to leave her dark, tight cocoon of dependency and begin to change her life, step by tiny step. The newly found freedom is frightening and intoxicating at the same time.
While her husband is in a state of coma, slowly deteriorating and rotting, Adelaide has to re-evaluate everything she knows about running the house, and take steps to make her future a bit more secure.

And it's not only her own future that is going to be affected. Her maid and confidante Sobriety and the other womenfolk who serve in the house, depend on her change of fortune.

The title bears its name from the discussion Adelaide has with the family solicitor, when Mr Hadley's will is disclosed. The widow will be left with only a small annuity, which won't be even enough for the upkeep of the house. Bypassing his wife entirely, everything will go to their son when he becomes of age to be the owner.
"Mr Gordon laid his metaphorical parcels before me and I thought, idiotically: What empty things they are".

Locked in a loveless, abusive marriage - Adelaide was a child bride to a man her father's age - and forced to give up her only child to the ministrations of the strict nanny, her story is poignant and dark.
Her life is dreary, she as much a slave of her husband, as her maid, who is raped by Adelaide's husband. Two female protagonists' lives are intertwined into one symbol of suffering and subjugation. Yet their spirit is not broken. Their friendship, devotion to each other, is beautifully written. Crozier created authentic characters, and the setting is flawless.

Free from her husband's dictatorship, Adelaide is hesitantly exploring the possibilities of writing for the ladies' magazines as a source of income. When her first piece is accepted for publication, she is thrilled and exalted. But of course, ladies of her status are not supposed to earn money. Adelaide's family takes an umbrage and puts a lot of pressure on her to give up on writing.

Gwendolyn, the widowed elder sister, keeps all her siblings under her thumb. She is a forceful, bullying entity behind the complicated family dynamics:
"I knew Gwendolyn would consider sensitivity in this or similar matters a waste of time. My sister is brutality itself, wrapped in strait propriety".

Women of their class are supposed to be pretty ornaments. "We ladies gazed up at him with our soft faces, seated, as we were in this womanly room embroidered so prettily and curtained away from the world. The very vase on the small table, filled with what few roses and foliage could be found this time of year, gave emphasis to my domestic womanliness."

Adelaide and Sobriety venture into London, both excited and giddy with their own bravery, when they follow a nameless girl with a baby in her arms into the tunnel. They are full of good intentions but of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. Their interference brings on dramatic, unalterable results.

This elegantly told tale is a deeply compelling dark narrative, with brilliant protagonists.

The book cover design deserves a special mention. It depicts a family heirloom with two images, of a young woman and a much older gentleman. The roses on the desk are past their bloom, the petals getting discoloured in decay. The white rose symbolised purity and innocence in the Victorian times.
Roses in decay represent here an innocence lost.


Potential triggers: marital abuse, rape, child separated from his mother, etc.